Daily News Advisory

AFP via MailOnline: The UN special envoy for Syria faced an uphill task in Geneva on Monday to get talks to end the brutal civil war off the ground, as the opposition hesitated to join negotiations with the regime. The urgency to find a solution to the four-year war was brought home Sunday when multiple explosions killed 71 people near a revered Shiite shrine outside the capital Damascus, according to a Britain-based monitor. The blasts were claimed by Islamic State, the extremist group that is running swathes of Syria and Iraq which has launched attacks worldwide, including in Paris in November when 130 people were murdered.